A military nostalgia group was among the beneficiaries of grants totalling almost €1.5 million announced by the Government yesterday.
The Connaught Rangers Association, which is engaged in compiling information and military artefacts of Irish regiments who fought in the first World War, received €10,000 from the Department of Foreign Affairs' Reconciliation Fund.
The Department yesterday announced grants totalling €1,484,250 to organisations involved in cross-community and cross-Border programmes.
The grants made to 44 organisations are to be distributed as part of the Department's Reconciliation Fund.
The biggest beneficiary announced yesterday was the Co-Operation Ireland group which was awarded €300,000.
Founded in 1979, it runs a number of programmes aimed at building relationships within communities as a response to the challenges of the conflict in the North.
Other beneficiaries include the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation which received €175,000 and the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland which was awarded €100,000.
In a statement yesterday, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said: "The Irish Government greatly values the contribution of these organisations.
"Their quiet determination is bringing positive change and tangible benefit to their communities.
"Their outreach work and community building, which continues, often in challenging circumstances, is helping to promote trust and to consolidate the peace."
Mr Cowen said the awards are a further expression of the Government's commitment to the values of partnership, which are "at the heart of the Good Friday agreement".
Also included in the announcement of grants is €30,000 for the Lartigue Monorail Restoration which is to be carried out with the assistance of the Downpatrick Railway Society.
The parishes of Drumcree, in Portadown and Ballyroan, Co Dublin, are to receive €1,250 to bring children from the North to Dublin during the marching season to "foster understanding and friendship between the two groups", said a statement released last night.
The Reconciliation Fund, established by the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1982, provides assistance to organisations involved in work to create a better understanding between people in both parts of Ireland and Britain.
Since 1999, the Department has awarded almost €14 million in grants to some 450 groups involved in a wide range of cross-Border outreach activities.
The announcement yesterday was the second round announced so far this year.
A third round of funding grants is to be announced before the end of the year, according to Government sources.